The Effects of Fire Fighting and On-Scene Rehabilitation on Hemostatis

Fire fighting is a dangerous occupation – in part because firefighters are called upon to perform strenuous physical activity in hot, hostile environments. Each year, approximately 100 firefighters lose their lives in the line of duty and tens of thousands are injured. Over the past 15 years, approximately 45% of line of duty deaths have been attributed to heart attacks and another 650-1,000 firefighters suffer non-fatal heart attacks in the line of duty each year. From 1990 to 2004, the total number of fireground injuries has declined, yet during this same period, the number of cases related to the leading cause of injury - overexertion/strain – remained relatively constant. It is well recognized that fire fighting leads to increased cardiovascular and thermal strain. However, the time course of recovery from fire fighting is not well documented, despite the fact that a large percentage of fire fighting fatalities occur after fire fighting activity. Furthermore, on scene rehabilitation (OSR) has been broadly recommended to mitigate the cardiovascular and thermal strain associated with performing strenuous fire fighting activity, yet the efficacy of different rehabilitation interventions has not been documented. Twenty-five firefighters were recruited to participate in a “within-subjects, repeated measures” study designed to describe the acute effects of fire fighting on a broad array of physiological and psychological measures and several key cardiovascular variables. This study provided the first detailed documentation of the time course of recovery during 2½ hours post-fire fighting. Additionally, we compared two OSR strategies (standard and enhanced) to determine their effectiveness.published or submitted for publicationnot peer reviewe

Fire fighting robot

Fire-fighting is an important but dangerous occupation. A fire-fighter must be able to put out fire quickly and safely. This is a common way to prevent fatalities and further damages. So, technology has done its part by bridging up the gap between fire fighters and machineries. So, a robot is invented in order to combine both man kind and technology [1]. Fire Fighting Robot is designed to put out a fire, before it reaches out of control. Robot with these fire-handling abilities is a great advantage to replace fire extinguishers [2]. Water-based robot will be an advantage for users to refill the tank as it goes empty. Users can fill up water and keep the robot in a safe position. Water is a basic non-chemical liquid which will not experience any expiry or damage or corrosion. This invention would be a great contribution to mankind in order to ease their work and minimize the risk during fire put out

Product development of a nickel-plated fire fighting helmet : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MTech in Product Development at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

This thesis describes the development of a fire fighting helmet for the French market for manufacture by Pacific Helmets (NZ) Ltd, including the major technical development of a process for electroplating unsaturated polyester resin (UP resin). The need for this study arose from an opportunity identified by PHNZ to enter into the French fire fighting market. The major technical problem was that the helmet shell must be manufactured from nickel-plated UP resin. However, no current technology existed for plating UP resin with a suitably high quality or durability that would withstand the user conditions of a fire fighting helmet. Literature from existing technologies for plating of similar materials, and attempts at plating UP resin for decorative purposes were reviewed, along with advice from Industry experts in order to understand plastics plating technology and to develop potential methods for plating UP resin for this application. An iterative hypothesis generation and trial process was used to test potential plating methods in a laboratory on samples of UP resin. A successful methodology was identified. Following this an electroplating pilot plant was constructed and the successful plating methods were used to plate full UP resin helmet shells. Works-like prototypes were constructed using helmet shells that had been successfully applied with a quality and durable electroplated coating suitable for fire fighting helmets. The prototypes were successfully tested against the required product safety standards. The project concluded with the successful development of a works-like prototype of a Nickel-plated fire-fighting helmet for the French market that met all consumer and technical requirements identified. Going forward, Pacific Helmets (NZ) Ltd plan to showcase the product at the next annual International Fire-fighting trade show. Plans are currently underway to expand the production facility in Wanganui in order to accommodate the additional helmet production

Computer vision techniques for forest fire perception

This paper presents computer vision techniques for forest fire perception involving measurement of forest fire properties (fire front, flame height, flame inclination angle, fire base width) required for the implementation of advanced forest fire-fighting strategies. The system computes a 3D perception model of the fire and could also be used for visualizing the fire evolution in remote computer systems. The presented system integrates the processing of images from visual and infrared cameras. It applies sensor fusion techniques involving also telemetry sensors, and GPS. The paper also includes some results of forest fire experiments.European Commission EVG1-CT-2001-00043European Commission IST-2001-34304Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia DPI2005-0229

Fighting Fire with Fire: Technology in Child Sex Trafficking

Mary G. Leary, Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of Americ

Fighting Fire with Fire: Technology in Child Sex Trafficking

We map real articulation data for five Swedish phonemen sequences onto parameters of a biomechanical tongue model that produces movement and muscle activations from position data. The movement produced is broadly correct and could likely be improved by a more fine tuned mapping. The muscle activations were found to vary between simulations using the same data but matched well with previous studies on muscle activity for vowels

Airborne forest fire research

The research relating to airborne fire fighting systems is reviewed to provide NASA/Langley Research Center with current information on the use of aircraft in forest fire operations, and to identify research requirements for future operations. A literature survey, interview of forest fire service personnel, analysis and synthesis of data from research reports and independent conclusions, and recommendations for future NASA-LRC programs are included

Explosive cord

Device, jetcord, is metal-clad linear explosive of sufficient flexibility to allow forming into intricate shapes. Total effect is termed ''cutting'' with jetcord consistently ''cutting'' a target of greater thickness than can be penetrated. Applications include sheet metal working, pipe cutting and fire-fighting

Cargo compartment fire extinguishing system

In all large passenger transport airplanes, halon fire bottles are used to extinguish fire in the cargo compartments. Halon as a fire-extinguishing agent, contributes to the destruction of stratospheric ozone in the atmosphere and it is banned in many countries. FAA considers halon 1301 as an effective firefighting agent due to its low toxicity and noncorrosive properties but because it damages the ozone layer, it has been phased out of production. However, it is still widely used on commercial aircraft until a suitable replacement is found. In this paper we will present an alternative approach to using halon 1301 as a fire fighting paradigm. In the proposed method, nitrogen is first extracted from the atmosphere by using the onboard air separator module it is then cooled, and pressurized into the cargo compartments to suppress any fire. Several methodologies can be used to increase the flow rate from the air separator module, to extinguish fire in cargo compartment

“Always Ready for any Sticky Job”: The Canadian Corps of (Civilian) Firefighters in the Second World War

The Canadian Corps of (Civilian) Firefighters was created. In 1942 to assist the British National Fire Service (NFS) in fighting fires caused by German bombings. Some 400 specially-recruited Corps members served in Britain from 1942 to 1944 under often very hazardous conditions. Its story remains one of the forgotten and more unique Canadian contributions to the war effort